If you’re not familiar with improvisational comedy, you should be. It can lead to some very funny and very wrong scenes.
Such was the case with RPI’s only improv comedy troupe, Sheer Idiocy, this Saturday. The show was in Mother’s, which was a nice surprise since I hadn’t been there since before the renovations. The room was nearly full, which is usually the case for a Sheer Idiocy show, and the people there seemed to enjoy themselves, as always. Indeed, it seems that the Idiots have a core following on campus.
At any rate, the Idiots did eight skits—objection, party quirks, two rounds of quest, schizo, chain murders, and two others based off of audience suggestions. Objection is a timed game in which the participants have to argue their point until another participant yells objection. The last one left arguing wins. The topic for this game was black lights. Yes, black lights. Try to imagine arguing about black lights. Improv certainly is only for those quick on their feet.
Party quirks involves three "guests," each with a physical, mental, or responsive quirk. The host of the party has to figure out what each of their quirks are, without any verbal hints. Quest is a game that is very much like it sounds. A player is in need of something, and, in order to get it, must ask another player. This player, however, also needs something, for which the questor must ask another character. You can see how this plays out. Schizo is a very funny game in which one or two Idiots play all the characters in their skit. They can switch among their own or the other person’s characters all they want. Finally, chain murders uses audience suggestions, usually for where the people are, what the first person’s profession is, and what the murder weapon is. For this game, the Idiots were in Switzerland, the guy was a urologist, and the murder weapon was a rutabaga. The first "victim" knows this, and tries to convey it to the next person in line without speaking. Once the new person thinks he has all the information, he "kills" the first guy. The game goes like this through three or four people, including one audience member. At the end, the participants all try to guess what was going on, much like a game of telephone. The other skits involved the French, Canadians, and the English. The impersonations were delightfully wrong.
My favorite parts of the show were the skits based off audience suggestions and schizo. They were the most open of the skits, which was good for this group since some really random stuff came out. All in all, it was a very entertaining evening.
The show was about an hour long, which is standard. I highly recommend seeing the Idiots the next time they do a show on campus. It’s well worth your time. And if you are interested in becoming an Idiot yourself, try contacting them through http://www.sheeridiocy.net/.
